Misconceptions
by Aniella Summers
Summary: With Asami and Mako together, anger filled Korra seeks peace and quiet in the spirit world, where she runs into Zaheer. The tension between Mako and Korra worsens when he catches Zaheer and Korra in compromising positions. Is this all part of Zaheer's scheme? Or he is truly falling for the young Avatar? Will team Avatar crumble under the pressure? Will everyone survive this battle?
1. I belong to no one

Authors Note: I don't own anything, I will be trying to add a chapter to the story at least once a week. If I miss a week, I will upload twice in the next week and so on. Thank you for reading.

Summary:

Anger filled Korra seeks peace and quiet in the spirit world, where she runs into Zaheer. The tension between Mako and Korra worsens when he catches Zaheer and Korra in compromising positions. IS this all part of Zaheer's scheme? Or he is truly falling for the young Avatar?

"I belong to no one"

"Listen to me. I'm going to set you free, but I want to talk to you first. I have a message that I need you to take to Korra"

* * *

Korra hated to admit it, but there was nothing she could do but wait. Her father, and Lin were right, they had no idea where Zaheer's people had taken Mako and Bolin. And there was no point in going around looking for them when they had no idea where to start. She angrily groaned and threw her fist into the rock wall of the inn, taking small satisfaction in watching part of the wall crumble beneath her fist.

"Korra," She heard a deep voice yell from across the room, when Korra turned she saw her dad glaring at her, "Calm down." With another groan, Korra plopped herself on the ground with a loud, thud.

"There must be something we can do!" Korra sneered, sounding as if she was trying to convince herself more than the others. Fire lord Zuko looked at the young Avatar with a smile on his face, remembering how energetic Aang use to be. Tonraq and Lin just shook their head at the young girl's attitude; she was as stubborn as a bull sometimes.

"Korra, listen to your father and calm down. " Lin said in a rash voice standing over Korra, "We have no idea where Zaheer or his group is. Until we find a lead there is nothing we can do."

"What happened to the whole 'I'm a detective' junk?" Korra demanded jumping to her feet, glaring at Lin. Lin just stared at the Avatar with a stern face, Korra knew there was nothing she could do. "Just forget it." Korra signed and pushed past everyone, with a heavy feeling in her heart that she was useless. She pushed the curtain out of the way and walked out of the inn.

Korra sat down by the pool where Mako and Bolin were taken, and her heart grew heavy thinking of the fire bender. She couldn't help but believe that she and Mako made a mistake. She loved the hot-headed guy, and she knew or at least she hoped that he still felt something for her. Korra extended her hand over the pool; a thin stream of water rose from the pool and swirled around her fingers. She knew that Mako and Asami were now back together, and Korra had told Asami that there were no hard feelings, but Korra couldn't help but to want to look away every time the couple did something. And she did, Korra thought of when her bending was restored, how he picked her up and spun her around. How their lips locked, and how it felt as if she was floating on clouds. The water in her hand turned to steam and flames erupted from her palm, as the horrid memories of their breakup clouded her mind and how Asami and Mako were now happily in love again.

Every time the fire bender was close to her, out of habit she would allow his scent to surround her. He smelt of lightning, crisp air, and like all fire benders he smelt a little of ashes. Korra wished she could feel his warm body against hers again; she needed to make things right. Maybe he would pick her over Asami, once again; Korra knew that it was not every likely. Especially how she treated him during her battle with the sprirts, and how she broke it off the last time. Once she told him it was over, she regretted it. But first, she just hoped him and Bolin would get home to her safely. As if the spirits heard her pleads, she heard Mako's and Bolin's voices in the distance. Korra cursed herself for her damned memories and the desert for playing tricks on her. When she kept hearing their voices, she jerked her head and saw the two brothers walking towards her.

"Mako! Bolin!" Korra yelled as she ran towards the famous bending brothers. With the use of her air bending, she reached them faster and pulled both bothers into a tight embrace. The two boys laughed at their friend's antics. When she finally put them back on the ground, she couldn't help the smile that was on her face. Korra stepped back and before she could ask questions, Mako took a step closer and looked up and down her. Korra knew he was making sure she didn't sustain any injuries.

"I was so worried, are you okay? Did they hurt you in anyway?" Mako questioned, taking another step towards the young avatar, a light blush covered her cheeks as she stuttered to answer him. She cursed her heart for beating as loud as it did; she swore he could hear it.

"I am better now, I am glad you are here." Korra said quietly as if she was embarrassed to admit she needed him; now it was Mako's turn to blush. Bolin sensing that the two ex-lovers needed some time alone, said he was going to inform the others that the brothers were okay, not that Korra or Mako heard him. They were too lost in what they wanted to say to hear Bolin walk away or to hear who was running towards them. "Mako, I still love…"

Before could finish her confession, Asami threw herself on top of Mako and in habit he wrapped his arms around her. Asami's lips quickly found Mako's as if she didn't notice Korra standing there watching the whole scene unfold in front of her. Mako's amber eyes widened in shock and landed on Korra's widdened filled ones. Korra refused to show them that this affect her so; she just stood there, trying to figure out the words she wanted to say as she saw her best friend kiss the man she loved. So many emotions ran through her, and Mako watched each one slowly take over her face. Maybe Korra was over reacting, maybe it was because she was so extremely worried about him and when he got home Asami interrupted their somewhat caring moment, or maybe it was because he acted like he truly cared for her that is why she was so emotional. All Korra knew is that she wanted to throw Asami off of him and beat her to a pulp, she also wanted to run away from the lovers, and she even wanted to laugh it off and pretend like nothing had happened. Finally she gave in and quickly turned her back to the lovers and fled out of the oasis and into desert. The wind and sand as if on her side, quickly covered up her frantic footprints, so no one would be able to find her.

Korra didn't know how long she was running or how far her legs had carried her, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Soon her legs gave out from exhaustion and her body collapsed into the harsh rough sand. Korra curled herself into a ball, as she could feel her heart break into pieces for what seemed like the hundredth time since she met him. She couldn't even bring herself to say his name, anger filled her body. No she would not cry, not for him. Korra slowly pushed herself onto her feet as let out a blood curling scream with fire pushing up her throat and flying from her lips, she closed her eyes and let out another scream this time slamming her boot into the ground pushing the earth up forming walls around the young avatar's body. Making herself a make shift tent closing herself off the rest of the world; just for a couple hours.

She heard Tenzin's voice in her head, whenever she was overcome with emotion to meditate to calm her spirit down. Korra took a deep breath, and sat down crossing one leg over the other. Closing her eyes she let her mind go black and allowed her spirit to separate itself from the chains that chained it to the physical world. Korra felt her spirit pull itself out of her body and when she opened her eyes she found herself where she and Zaheer had met.

Korra pushed herself of the green grass, walking up to the large tree and placing her hand on the bark. At first she truly felt at peace with the spirits and nature all around her; Korra loved the spirit world, it was untouched by the cruelness of mankind. Everything was still green and new; the wind held a gentle breeze and sung a song of life to her ears. The trees where miles high, the sky was a clearest of blues and Korra always felt at peace in this world as if she belonged in the spirit world and not the physical one. With a sigh, the vision of Mako and Asami filled her mind once again, and she let her rage take over her body.

"How could he do that to me? And with my best friends of all people!" Korra yelled, pacing back and forth. Unknown to her, Zaheer came to the spirit world for the same purpose as Korra; he was behind the tree listening to her angry rants. "I can't believe that I thought he stilled cared about me! I mean he acts all possessive when other males are around me and 'I was so worried about you Korra'. Bullshit! Spirits, he just makes me so mad!"

"Trouble in paradise? Huh, Avatar?" Zaheer said stepping out from behind the tree. He took a seat on the flattened rock that he was sitting in last time they had met. Korra spun on her heels and glared daggers at the man.

"Zaheer!" Korra yelled as she got into her fighting stance, fists up just waiting for a reason to bash his teeth in, "What do you want? And it better be good, I am not in a good mood."

"I just came here for some peace and quiet, but my quiet was ruined when you started shouting about your silly fire bender and his lover." Zaheer said with a straight face, on the inside he was smirking, knowing that he was getting under her skin. "Did you get my message from your fire boy?"

"His is not mine." Korra sneered, her teeth grating against one another, "And no, he was too busy swapping spit to tell me anything." Korra's anger grew along with the sadness as she recalled how worried she was for him, and he didn't even tell her what had happened. Her heart dropped into her stomach, as a frown replaced the confident look she was just wearing. This seemed to peak Zaheer's interest, even just a little. Maybe if he played on this, he could drive the Avatar's group apart; as much as Zaheer hated to admit it, with the help of her friends the Avatar could possibly take him and his group down. But, if Zaheer found a way to drive a wedge betwen the group, then she would be easy prey.

"So then you must belong to the other brother, the earth bender?" Zaheer questioned as he stood up and took a step in Korra's direction. Korra stared at him with disbelief, what did it matter to him? Korra stomped up to Zaheer with no fear, and pushed her finger into his chest with every word.

"I belong to no one!" Korra murderously said glaring deep into his eyes; his face was blank yet his eyes were filled with humor. He raised his hand up to her chin and looked back into her eyes with the same amount of emotion as she did.

Zaheer leaned in close to Korra's ear and whispered, "Good to know…my avatar." And with that, Zaheer disappeared as if the wind had whispered it into her ears. Leaving the young Avatar standing there stunned, staring off into space.


	2. At the sound of Music to his ears

Author's note: I do not own anything. I will be trying to add a chapter to the story at least once a week. I may update more than that if I am feeling really ambitious. If I miss a week, I will upload twice in the next week and so on. Thank you for reading, please comment and tell me what you think.

'At the sound of music to his ears'

Korra stood there, her mind completely blank; she had no idea what to make of what just happened. Zaheer's words swam through her head, and her rage bubbled up again inside of her. _His Avatar? Oh boy, did he have another thing coming_. Korra took a couple deep breaths trying to calm herself down; before she disrupted the spirit world with the amount of anger radiating off of her. She turned away from where Zaheer was just standing and noticed that there was a small river flowing towards the mountains in the distance. Korra wished she could have taken a quick dip into the river, but she knew she had to get back to her body before the others got worried. She sat down, crossed one leg over the other and took a deep breath. Korra closed her eyes and allowed her mind to go black; she felt her body's small tug at her soul and followed that tug back into her body.

When she finally felt the warm sensation of her soul being back in her body, she slowly opened her eyes and breathed out a little bit of fire. She needed to feel in control once again; Korra hated when she wasn't in control and recently it had seemed like she was in a rapid river being tossed around like a rag doll. Korra was still slightly flustered but her body steamed with anger, "How dare he call me his!" She shouted as she stomped down into the sand, pushing her quickly made rock walls back into the ground from once they came.

Korra was so furious she had yet to notice that Mako, Asami, and Bolin were standing nearby. They went looking for her, although Mako hadn't told them the real reason that Korra had ran away; since Asami didn't notice that she had run off, and Bolin was too busy talking to Lin, Tonraq, and Fire Lord Zuko. Mako just told them that before Asami ran over, Korra said something about going off and meditation in peace. When Team Avatar saw the rock tent they figured it was her; Bolin had pushed the rock walls down to make sure Korra was in there and when they saw she was in the spirit world, Bolin put the walls back up. The group had stayed close to her rock barrier, just to make sure no one came around and tried to harm her while she was in the spirit world.

Korra's eyes were closed as she clenched her fists in rage, "First Mako acts as if he actually cares about me, then Zaheer goes and acts all high and mighty calling me his! He wishes he could tame me!"

"He did what?" An angry shout caused Korra to open her eyes in shock, she hadn't even realized people where there. _That could have been really dangerous_, "Hello? Earth to Korra? He said what?" Mako angrily questioned once more, when Korra just stared at him. Quickly her daze was shaken by the anger in his voice and Korra just stared at him with disbelief.

"Oh and why do you care?" Korra shouted, shocking everyone around her. They could practically feel the anger radiating off of her body. Bolin and Asami took a couple steps back, while Mako stood his ground and lowered his eyes. He even took a couple steps closer as anger filled both of their eyes as now they were only a couple steps apart.

"Because he is the enemy, Korra! He tried to kidnap you! Or have you forgotten about that as well?" Mako shouted back, crossing his arms over his chest. As if she could have forgotten that she almost was kidnapped, you can't just forget those things.

"I doubt you even cared!" Korra said with anger lacing each word, as she took a step and jammed her finger in the center of his chest, "I am the Avatar; you don't owe me any favors." That she whispered but with still as much anger as before. Mako's eyes widened for a second, realizing she had said something close to that before he confessed his love, then with a sigh Mako shook his head.

"Look, I don't care if you are the Avatar or not, Korra. We are on the same side here." Mako said softly with a slight smile on his face, "What would I do without my best friend?" Her heart shattered a little more as Mako pulled her into a tight embrace. Korra did not return the hug at first, her eyes were stung with the truth that she heard; her arms remained at her side, and for the second time today, she wanted to run away. With a heavy sigh, Korra wrapped her arms around his slender torso. Basking in his warmth, and allowing his scent to surround her once more.

"Now, there is something that me and Bolin have to tell you. So why don't we go back to the inn and talk." Mako said pulling back from the embrace, his arms still on her shoulders, looking into her blue eyes. Bolin and Asami were now walking towards the two benders and with smiles on their faces, agreed with Mako; saying it was the best course of action.

"Zaheer said you guys were supposed to deliver a message to me." Korra said thoughtfully as she remembered what Zaheer had told her in the spirit world, _it was definitely weird._ "Anyway, I could use a cup of Lychee juice" The others laughed as they headed back to the oasis, Korra couldn't help but notice how Mako grabbed Asami's hand as they walked back.

When they reached the Oasis, after Korra grabbed a rather large glass of Lychee juice, Team Avatar went straight into the room that Korra was staying in at the inn. Korra took a seat on the bed, Naga came up to the window and putting her head through the window, Naga laid her head on Korra's lap. Asami and Mako took the couch in across from the bed and Bolin created a chair from the earth below to sit in. Korra rubbed behind Naga's ears, waiting for Mako or Bolin to speak.

"So, what was the big message that you had to deliver to me?" Korra said impatiently, as she stared at Mako. Bolin sat there extremely interesting on looking at how his fingers looked. Mako shifted to the edge of the seat and cleared his throat.

"I guess by now you already know that Zaheer killed the Earth Queen," Mako paused waiting for Korra to nod, "well before that, me and Bo got locked up in a jail cell when Zaheer gave us to the Earth Queen so he could have you. Like a trade, when he found out the ship carrying you got destroyed, that's when he killed the Earth Queen. Zaheer made an announcement to all of Ba Sing Se, and then he had Ghazan, the guy who bends lava, to burn down the inner walls. Zaheer let all the prisoners out, except for us. He came to us and said that he was going to set us free but first he wanted to speak to us. That he had a message that he needed us to deliver to you."

"And? What is that message, get on with it." Korra said once again impatiently, she wasn't one to wait for things.

"Well the red lotus is meeting up, not just the members we met, but the whole red lotus." Mako said, he saw Korra's face and sighed, "To decide what they are going to do about you, and how he told us to tell he can't wait to see you again."

"Eh?" Korra said, her eye twitching, "That's it? I mean that's not so bad, guess." She said shrugging and picking at something in her ear. She was expecting something a lot more threatening, like he had her parents or something. _He is not acting how I thought he would_.

"I think we should figure out where that meeting is being held, and try to infiltrate it." Asami said with a thoughtful look on her face, as if she was already trying to figure out the details.

"But we go in like me and Korra did when we rescued Bolin, undercover. We aren't going to go in trying to fight everyone. Okay, Korra?" Mako said, glaring in Korra's direction. Korra glares at him back but she nods. "I'm serious this time, Korra!"

"I'm understand, boss man!" Korra yelled standing up, with a sign she sat back down, "But how do we figure out where the meeting is being held?" Korra had to admit she wasn't the most patient, and sometimes she was pretty quick to act.

"Well last time, Zaheer and Aiwei, met in the spirit world. And only Korra can go there, so it can't be there." Bolin said in a serious tone, as if he was actually contemplating if it could actually be there or not.

"I doubt that everyone in the red lotus would be going to the meeting can go to the into the spirit world, Bo." Korra said laughing a little at the thought of just a hundred people's bodies all sitting next to each other, _now that would be silly_.

"Well somehow we are going to figure out how to find out where they are having this meeting, because this could be the break that we are looking for." Mako said staring at the ground, placing his head in his one hand. Korra already had an idea about how she could find out, but after how Mako freaked out about what Zaheer said, Korra wasn't about to bring up her idea.

"Well we should probably get to how we are going to figure this out." Korra said pushing Naga off her lap and pushing her arms above her head and stretching. "I am going to go the spirit world," Everyone raised their eye brows at her, Mako stood up and was about to say something to her, "No, shut up. Mako you have no say in what I do or say."

"Korra, I do not feel comfortable with you doing things on your own." Mako said with small traces of anger lacing each word; with a sigh Korra decided that it wasn't worth it getting into another argument.

"I am in the spirit world, there is no bending, and no harm can come of me. I am not meeting anyone, it just helps me think." Korra said with a sad smile on her face, "It just isn't worth fighting anymore, Mako. So just go figure out how we are going to find Zaheer with Asami and Bo. If it makes you feel better, I'll leave my body right here on the bed. But first, I need some more Lychee juice" She got happier when she spoke about the Lychee juice, but the rest was mostly just spoken with little to no emotion. With that said, Korra started to walk out of the door, she hesitated when Mako spoke.

"What do you mean; it just isn't worth fighting anymore?" Mako whispered his face scrunched up in confusion.

With a sigh Korra turned around and face Mako, with a fake smile on her face, but like everyone else, he believed it, "Like you said, we are best friends, we shouldn't be fighting this much" Mako didn't say a word as he watched Korra walk out of the door, with a sad smile on her face.

Korra returned to the room taking a huge chug of the Lychee Juice she just gotten; within the room Bolin and Asami were playing Pi Sho, what caught her attention was that Mako wasn't in the room anymore. Korra looked all around the room, but she couldn't find him.

"Where did city boy go?" Korra asked as she settled herself in her meditation position on top of the bed.

Asami looked up from the Pi Sho game and glanced around the room, "Huh, I didn't even notice that he left the room." Bolin just shrugged his shoulders and went back to trying to figure out how to quickly beat Asami, and prove once and for all that Shady Shin's way of Pi Sho was superior. Korra chuckled when Asami beat him once more and Bolin yelled out "15 out of 21".

Korra closed her eyes, and focused on her breathing and heart beat as her mind melted into blackness. With a deep breathe, and for the second time today, she released her spirit from the binds that bound her to this world. Korra felt her soul push itself out of her body, as if it was in a hurry, and disappear into the other world. Korra new exactly where she would land, and she was expecting to speak to a certain air bender.

When she felt her feet touch the soft grass of the spirit world, Korra opened her eyes and glanced around her. _This better not become a normal thing for us._ But Zaheer was nowhere to be seen; Korra let out a noise close to a growl and yelled out his name. With a sigh she glanced up at the tree, and to the small spirits next to her. With a playful smile on Korra's face she raced some sprits to the top of the tree. She lost of course, but she would never admit it to anyone, she couldn't help but let the laugh slip through her lips.

Without her realizing it she called him to her; Zaheer had felt something pull at his heart, calling him to the spirit world. Right after him and the red lotus finished eating some weird steaks that the Queen had, he quickly went to his room and allowed his spirit to leave his body, and travel to where his heart was calling him. When Zaheer arrived beneath his favorite tree, he couldn't help but to hear the most wonderful song ever heard. It was more touching than the song the wind sung as it passed by his ears; it tugged at his heart, like what had called him to this very place.

He narrowed his eyes, and glanced up from where the noise was coming from. His eyes widened when he realized that the noise he had heard was actually the Avatar laughing. Quickly he gained his normal stoic face, as he watched the Avatar play with the spirits with such care. Zaheer knew that she was the key in the Red Lotus's plans, and he would have to kidnap her soon, but for now he just listened to her beautiful laughter. Zaheer took a deep breath, and took his meditating position underneath the tree; waiting for the Avatar to finish playing with the spirits. One could not tell by looking at his face that he was enjoying her joyful spirit around him; one probably wouldn't be able to tell if he enjoyed anything with him usually wearing a stoic mask, but he truly couldn't stop himself from smiling on the inside at the sound of music to his ears.


	3. We seemed like a good idea

Author's note: I do not own anything. I am sorry this one was a couple days late but me and Kenzie were still trying to figure out the details. Originally we were going to have this also include the Red Lotus group but we will have that in the next chapter. We get a look in Mako and Asami's relationship and how Mako was able to survive without Korra. The breaks are to show that we are going back and forth; between past and present. Thank you for reading, please comment and tell me what you think.

"We seemed like a good idea…"

Mako sighed as he put his head into his hands; his headache was getting worse, and he didn't know if it was all the stress or if it was the memories floating throughout his head. Asami was right, they needed to focus on the current threat at hand, not Korra and his relationship. Mako had to admit, Asami had a brilliant idea to help him get over Korra, but he still didn't feel comfortable with the whole scheme of things. With another sigh he closed his eyes, let his head fall backwards, resting against the wall, and just thought back; he was breaking apart and Asami tried to hold all the pieces together. Tried.

* * *

With another loud yell, he grabbed the mirror and threw it across the small room as the tears streamed down his face. The mirror hit the ground as shards of glass flew across the floor, adding to the destruction all around him. Another yell left his mouth, this time with fire spiraling up his throat and out his mouth, fanning throughout the room, giving it an orange glow. He turned quickly and with a fist full of flames, he put another dented scorch mark into the wood. Now panting, he hit his head against the scorched wood trying to stop the memories from arising once again.

With the sound of her laughter in his mind, his anger grew as the flames grew higher and stronger. Just like his grief, the fire was eating up everything in its sight. He threw his fist into the wall one more time, trying to choke back the tears that were already spilling down his face. He couldn't hold back the whimpers that were clawing their way out of his mouth; he was finding it hard to breathe as he remembered the way she would softly kiss him.

He pushed himself off the wall a with fire almost dripping out of his mouth, he let out a heart wrenching wail; another chair flew across the room and smashed against the door. He fell to the floor, letting another wail fly from his mouth as he pounded his fist against the ground; crying out Korra's name as if she could hear him, as if she would come running back to him. What hurt him the most was that he let her walk away, saying nothing more than a nod.

That is what Asami walked in on; Asami had decided to check up on the fire bender and when she heard all the smashing and yelling, she sprinted up to his room. She looked around and saw how badly he was hurting, and how bad he destroyed his room. Asami sprinted out of the room and got a bucket of water when she saw the fire burning up half the room. After Asami put out the fire, she ran over to the cause of all this misery and draped her arms around his body, resting her head on his back. He was still on his elbows and knees, banging his fist into the ground, whispering Korra's name.

* * *

Shaking his head, Mako couldn't believe how hard he had fallen; it had taken him months to return to normal, or at least where he wouldn't have a break down in front of Korra when he saw her. All he had to do was dive into his work, leave almost no time for anyone, and stick to Asami's plan.

* * *

"Mako, it has been over five weeks," Asami said, Mako knew she cared but he couldn't bring himself to, "If Korra can move on with her life, well then… so can you."

Mako lifted his head out of his hands and stared at the non-bender sitting across the table from him, he wasn't as bad as he was before, but he was still ignoring Korra and the group. The only one who knew how bad he was, was Asami, ever since she found him on the floor that day, she has been trying to put him back together. Mako never really had a family outside of Bolin, no one to take care of him, to listen to him. Sure he had Bolin, but he couldn't show weakness to Bolin. Mako was the one to take care of Bolin, not the other way around. When Korra came into his life, for some reason he put all his faith in her. He took care of her, but she also took care of him. Then she disappeared, and he didn't know how to cope with losing his family…. all over again. He just snapped.

"Asami, I am fine." He said staring at her, trying to make her believe him, but the look she was giving him told him that he wasn't doing a very good job. Asami sighed deeply and pushed her hair out of her face.  
"Mako, I have an idea to help you get over Korra." Asami said as she stood up to look down at him, "I don't think you are going to like it, but I believe it will help."

"Well get on with it." Mako was never a patient man, and he was going crazy being stuck on the beautiful Avatar.

"Well, you know how you skip work; you claim that you are sick? And after a while of saying you are sick, suddenly you become sick?" Asami questioned with all seriousness.

"Yes, but I don't know how that has anything to do with Korra." Mako said with a rather unneeded sigh, "I can tell myself as many times as I want that I'm over her. It does nothing."

"Well, besides the fact that you aren't even trying, you need to take it a step farther. You need to not only tell yourself that you are over her, but act like it." Asami said trying to explain what she was thinking, "You need to spend more time with her, in your mind you need to pick out her flaws. Focus on them, and you need to act happy. As if you are happy that you are single, even get a girlfriend, or girlfriends." After a moment it finally it clicked in his head and he frowned.

"I don't think that is going to work." Mako said feeling uneasy; he could barely look at Korra, let alone try and get a girlfriend.

"Look, it is the only option we have left; it doesn't even have to be a real girlfriend." Asami said with a wink, "It could be a fake girlfriend." Mako looked at the beautiful non-bender with skepticism in his amber eyes, but after a couple minutes with a sigh he gave in.

"Okay, we can try it. But where on earth am I supposed to find a 'fake girlfriend'?" Mako said rolling his eyes, making air quotations around the end of his question.

"Well what about me?"

* * *

That is how this whole charade had started, and he wasn't going to lie, his feelings for Korra had started to dwindle down. Korra still had a hold on his heart, but it was growing weaker yet he knew deep in his mind that she always would have a small tug on which way his heart swung. He had wanted Korra to see that he was happy, but he hadn't meant to send her into the dessert upset. Mako looked up when he heard soft footsteps heading in his direction.

"There you are, Mako." Asami said with a relieved grin on her face, "I had thought we were going to have to search in the desert for yet another person." She added with a small laugh, she was trying to lighten the mood. Although it wasn't working the way she had wanted it to. A sigh passed through her lips, and she slid down the wall, sitting next to the fire bender.

"Why did you kiss me?" Mako whispered looking at the ground in front of him; refusing to look at Asami until she answered him. He felt anger bubbling up inside of him, mostly at himself for hurting Korra. Again.

"Well I thought that was what I was supposed to do…" Asami said looking at Mako with confusion filling her beautiful features, "Remember we are 'dating'?" She used air quotations just as Mako had a long time ago.

"Well yeah, but..." Mako began to say, but he knew he had no reason to be mad at Asami; she was only going along with the plan. "Nothing, it isn't you." With that he got up and started to walk back to Korra's room. Asami just sat against the building sighing and shaking her head, _those two will never learn._

As Mako got closer he couldn't help but think of Korra, "We had seemed like a good idea…."


	4. My Avatar

Author's note: I do not own anything. This one we get back to Korra and Zaheer. We also get to see inside of Zaheer and P'Li. We know some of you aren't happy with the last chapter, but it will be important in the end. And we know that you guys want more Zaheer and Korra, but she almost got kidnapped by him…Thank you for reading, please comment and tell me what you think.

"….My Avatar…"

Korra had long since dragged herself from the top of that tree, it took her longer than Zaheer would have liked, but after he apparently 'Scared the spirits out of her' she calmed down and started talking to him. There was almost no tension in the air, all the tension was created by the young Avatar. Korra was always looking for a fight; she was trying to cover up the idea that her spirit liked to have his aura around her. Korra didn't like how comfortable she was getting around him; _he just tried to kidnap me for spirits sake!_

"I received your message, Zaheer." Korra said with hint of malice in her voice, "Where is this so called meeting you are having?" Zaheer took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"If you were intended to know, Avatar," Zaheer said with no emotion, "then you would have received an invitation." Korra let out a low noise close to a growl; she longed to have her bending to teach this guy a lesson. Taking a deep breath, she tried being less direct.

"Was that the whole message?" Korra asked now finally sitting down in a position almost identical to Zaheer's.

"No." Zaheer said while opening his eyes, his almost black eyes were filled with anger and a little conflict, "But you knew this. You wouldn't be able to control your curiosity, and we would once again find ourselves here."

"This whole scheme was to get me here?" Korra asked, an uneasy feeling growing in her stomach as she stared into those dark eyes. After speaking his eyes closed once more, as if he was trying to let go of his anger; with a silent sigh he opened them again, this time void of all emotion.

"I am tired of chasing you, Korra." Zaheer sneered, as his anger was dripping from each word, yet his eyes were void, "This meeting is to figure out what the Red Lotus wants to do….but don't think for one second that if it was up to me I wouldn't use the new air nation against you. Soon you will either submit, or I, personally, will make you submit." Zaheer closed his eyes as he let Korra dwell on that statement.

A look of horror reached Korra's face as she took in his words, as her heart dropped into her stomach. She hadn't even thought of him using the new air benders against her, but as she was thinking about it, it seemed like the perfect idea. When Korra didn't answer right away, Zaheer opened one eye and looked at her scrunched up face and sighed. He couldn't understand this heavy feeling in his heart when he saw that look on her usually beautiful features.

"Why were you up in the tree so long?" Zaheer asked Korra without opening his eyes, as he was still in the meditation position. Zaheer had lost control of his anger; _I can't allow that to happen again. _Korra was taken back from his words; she wasn't ready for that transition, from such anger in his voice to sounding so at peace. She couldn't even begin to think about why he even wanted to know, but not wanted to keep him waiting she told him the truth. _It couldn't hurt._

"Well, I guess, because it is so peaceful." Korra said looking up into the sky, then back at Zaheer, "Just as you usually meditate to relax, I love to run or feel the wind through my hair. The spirits are part of me, and I believe, sometimes, that I belong in this world than the physical one." Zaheer's eyes shot open as Korra's closed at that last comment; he looked at the Avatar with shock written on his face. She was leaning back on both hands, legs still crossed, her head was back with her eyes shut, and a breath taking smile on her face as the wind blew through her hair. He and the Avatar shared more in common than he first originally thought. He cursed himself; _I shouldn't think of her like that, she is just a pawn that we need. Just a pawn._

When Korra opened eyes, she couldn't help but feel attracted to the man in front of her. She pushed off her butt and slowly crawled on her hands and knees in front of this man. She couldn't control herself as she reached up, and lightly grazed her fingers along his cheek. She couldn't help the blush that ran across her face as temptation won the battle over his mind as he leaned into her soft hand; electricity shot throughout both their bodies from the slight touch. Korra's mouth let a soft gasp leave her lips as she found herself leaning forward, towards his. His deep eyes clashed with her light ones; just like yin and yang it seemed as if they were drawn to each other, as if they needed one another. Slowly she closed her eyes, giving into the pounding in her heart; getting lost into the intoxicating aroma he had, she could feel his hot breath on her lips and she couldn't help the involuntary shudder that ran through her body. Zaheer shocked himself as he found himself wanting to hold her; his eye's started to close as he leaned towards her begging lips. As their lips were less than centimeters apart, both of them silently begging for the slightest touch, she could feel his lips pull up into a smirk as his hand ghostly ran over her cheek.

"….My Avatar," he whispered, and then his warmth disappeared. Korra felt the cold crawl up her spine as she opened her eyes and saw that he had vanished in thin air. And with another broken sigh, she was gone as well.

But unknown to her, Zaheer had just moved himself to the other side of the tree; he couldn't believe he let his emotions grab a hold of him like that. With a sigh, he leaned back against the tree, rubbing his temples with his pointer fingers. With an angry yell, he turned around and punched the tree. The Avatar was making him soft, P'Li was right, he has changed, and he didn't know if it was for better or for worse. All he knew is that it had to stop.

* * *

Zaheer was walking back to his room on the airship; he needed to figure out what was calling him to the spirit world. After the group's failed attempt to kidnap the Avatar, there had been a lot of stress and a lot of yelling at one another. Right before he pushed open the door to his room, he heard his name being called from the room across from his, and he froze.

"You and Zaheer do not seem as happy as you did before prison." Zaheer didn't have to see who was speaking to know it was Ming-Hua. Ming-Hua wasn't asking, she was simply stating the facts that even Zaheer knew. He also knew he should just go in his room and quickly go to what or whoever was calling him, but his curiosity grew too strong and he got closer to the other door to listen.

"No, it does not seem like it." The other spoke with a soft sigh, Zaheer himself barely picked it up; the person speaking he knew was his P'Li. "When I joined the Red Lotus, I was young and looking for excitement. I am in no one saying I regret this, but I may regret him." Zaheer's eyes widened as he processed what she was saying. It weighted his heart down to hear his usually confident P'Li speak so softly and so timid.

"But, P'Li," Ming-Hua said, "Was he not what kept you through the cold nights in prison?" Zaheer sure hoped he was for her, because she consumed almost all of his thoughts the thirteen years they were locked up.

"He isn't the man I knew once, and he can never become him again. That is what ruined us." P'Li stated, sounding a little more like herself; Zaheer could picture her flawless face scrunching up at the thought of anything displeasing. "When you are sitting in the cold, nothing to keep you warm, but your memories, you constantly think of who you love. Your mind creates this unrealistic image of that man. Unrealistic fantasies and by then it's already ruined. When you finally see him, you can't help but see that unrealistic image of him, but soon the façade falls. Zaheer just couldn't live up to the expectations of the man I built in my head."

* * *

Korra let out a loud groan as her spirit forced its way back into her body, one was supposed to ease their way back in, but she guessed her spirit was too angry and too humiliated to take its time.

"Oh spirits." She mumbled as a pounding in her head began, "I never want to go into the spirit world again." Korra rubbed her head as she opened her eyes and jumped when she saw Mako sitting on the bed staring at her in confusion. Korra shook her head at him, telling him not to question it.

"Come on, Korra. We have an idea where the meeting is going to take place." Mako said as he got up off the bed offering Korra his hand. "While you went to the spirit world and Asami and Bolin stayed here, I went back to their truck and searched it from top to bottom."

"And?" Korra asked while taking Mako's hand. He pulled her up off the bed then quickly dropped her hand and started walking towards the springs where Asami and Bolin were sitting playing with the spirits.

"I found something." Mako harshly said, telling Korra that the conversation was over for now. Korra couldn't understand why he had gotten so harsh and angry so quickly. She just shrugged and ran over to Bo and Asami.

"Did you see Zaheer in the spirit world?" Asami said as she stood when Korra reached them, Mako trailing slightly behind Korra.

"Yeah I did, but he wouldn't tell me anything." Korra said grumpily crossing her arms across her chest, "But he did tell me that if it was up to him, that he would use the new air benders against me." Everyone looked taken back by that, they all knew that Zaheer needed Korra but they didn't realize that he would go as far as whipping out the air nation to get to her.

"What do you think he will do to them?" Bolin said, now just starting to stand up with Pabu on his shoulder. He was getting tired of looking up at the other three benders.

"I don't know, Bo." Korra said rubbing her arm, "But what I do know is that we need to stop them before he can get the air benders."

"This meeting is the perfect way to figure out what they are going to do. To make sure we are a step ahead of them." Asami said slamming her fist into her open palm. Korra wanted to chuckle at the thought, but she knew that a pissed off Asami was a scary Asami; even if she couldn't bend.

"Well the letter that I found in their vehicle, said that the meeting would be in Republic City." Mako said pulling the letter out of his shirt, handing it to Korra for her to read, "Zaheer must know that the president banned Korra from the city." Korra felt her heart drop into her stomach for the second time today as she read the letter herself.

"Not only is it in Republic City, but the meeting is being held in the president's private bunker, underneath his house."


	5. A goddess walking among mortals

Author's Note: Sorry it has taken me so long to write and post this and sorry this was such a short chapter, I have been so busy with trying to finish my assignments for school I completely put this on the back burner. I am going to try and update one more time this week, if I can I do not know, but I will try. The link to the dress that Korra is wearing is on our profile, I tried to describe it the best I could but I had some difficulties. Hopefully soon we will get to the steamy scene with Zaheer and Korra. Thank you for reading and please comment what you think!

"A goddess walking among mortals"

"Wow," Bolin stated flinging his arms in front of his body, as if he was trying to stop a speeding Satomobile, "the president is in on this?"

"He never did seem to like Korra that much…" Mako trailed off near the end as he became deep in thought.

"Yeah, but I didn't think that he would go as far as side with the criminals who tried to kidnap Korra as a child!" Asami all but yelled, "He has to maintain the public's approval, and I don't think that the public would approve of that."

"But it is a secret meeting," Mako sneered behind clenched teeth, "meaning no one would know about it. The public can't disapprove something that they didn't know about!"

Korra sat on the bed quietly throughout Team Avatar's discussion, she was trapped in shock. She felt as if someone was putting the fury of the spirits on her shoulders, as if pouring molten gold onto her flesh; the pain of the heavens chained her to the ground beneath her and the more she struggled, the tighter the chains became. She sat as still as a statue thinking blocking out the storm brewing around her. Never was harmony more perfect than that between the chaos of her mind and the chaos of the world around her. Korra clenched her eyes shut, stood up, and with a deep breath, her crystal blue unclouded eyes shot open and her friends have never heard her voice stronger than of that time.

"Either way, we will bring the red lotus down." Korra stated; her voice stronger than an ox, "They will not continue their destruction on this world. We need to come up with a plan to get into that meeting." A huge grin over took Bolin's face, a smile reached Asami's perfectly red lips, and only a smirk reached Mako's expression as he simply nodded his head.

"We should bring the letter," Mako said as Team Avatar took a seat in a circle on the floor, "to prove that we actually belong in the meeting."

"I think it will be best if we go undercover for this mission," Asami simply restating what Mako had said earlier. Another huge teeth filled smile filled Bolin's face as he loudly clapped his hands together.

"Wait! I got it!" Bolin said in a sing-song voice, "I'll disguise myself as a lost citizen, and when I'm by the guards, I'll distract the red lotus with my bird calls!" He finished his plan up with a couple of bird noises, "That's when you all sneak into the meeting!" The entire team just looked at him with bored expressions; Mako was the only one that told Bolin that his plan was stupid, just as he did when they were younger.

"Bird calls? Really?" Mako questioned; Bolin turned to him and gave him a nasty look.

"Well I haven't noticed you offering any suggestions!" Bolin said with a hint of malice in his usually chipper voice. Asami sighed deeply and put her head in her hands, the bickering of the brothers were hurting her head.

"Well the one time me and Korra snuck into Amon's meeting, to save you I might add," Mako added quickly knowing that it would bother Bolin, " we pretended to be a couple, we showed them the flyer, and they let us right in. But the way the letter was written it seems as if it is going to be formal wear."

"That was Amon, though," Asami added before Bolin had a chance to 'defend his honor', "that is a start, but the red lotus is a little bit smarter than Amon. They will not hesitate, like Amon did, if they get Korra they might just kill her there." Asami was right, they couldn't just do small disguises, they would have to completely change the way Korra looked.

"Well than, we will just have to completely change the way we look." Korra said with a grimace on her face, "Asami will have to not wear makeup or wear it in a completely different way, I will have to wear it with one of Asami's dresses, and the boys will have to think of something."

"Let's do it!" Asami said with a huge smile complimenting her lips, "I always wanted to dress Korra up." Korra cringed at the idea of being in a dress, completely coated in powder and lipstick. She knew it was her plan, but that didn't mean she liked the idea. With a nod Team Avatar split up, and Asami basically dragged Korra to her room.

* * *

"Asami, I don't know about this," Korra groaned as she stared at herself in the mirror; to be truthful Korra couldn't find herself anywhere in the face staring back at her.

"Oh, shut it!" Asami said as she took the last curler out of Korra's hair; the hair softly bounces and then landed perfectly to frame her face, "You look stunning!"

"But it's not me..." Korra spoke so softly that Asami didn't even hear the simple comment. Korra glanced in the mirror and she could clearly see the beauty that Asami was speaking about, but Korra couldn't find any comfort in it.

Korra's hair was in large spirals cascading around her face and down her back, Asami added things called 'extensions' and placed them into Korra's hair making it seem as if her hair traveled more than half way down her back. Asami had given Korra large golden earrings, fake of course, with the water bending emblem carved into the golden sphere. The dress, which Korra believed was far too formal for this, was made of the finest silk which clung to every curve of her body; her breasts were held up not with bindings as usual, but Asami gave Korra a normal bra that pushed them up and make them look larger than normal. The dress had a small v at her collar bone, curving around her shoulders the fabric didn't reconnected until right above her ass, leaving her back fully exposed. The long sleeves were tight, but loose enough so Korra could move around without discomfort; the color started at a deep blue and the dress curved around her body the color started to lighten till it was almost a white at the small trail.

Asami had bought the dress awhile back, hoping one day that she and Korra would be friends and that Korra would allow Asami to dress her up. Now was her chance, and she was going all out. Asami put a red lip stain across Korra's mouth, Asami didn't want to overdo it since Korra held natural beauty, but she had to make sure it didn't look like Korra. Asami added a light smoke effect with the eye shadow, and then she added some light mascara to make her eyes pop. Asami made Korra put on some golden heels with swirls carved into the gold; although the dress covered the heels, Asami swore that Korra needed the heels to finish the outfit.

Asami wore almost the same kind of dress that Korra did, but Asami's back was completely covered. The material was still made of the finest silk, which expanded Asami's smaller curves. The dress had a plunge in the front, with a slit up the side starting below her waist; the color went from a sparkly white to a dark crimson red at the end. Asami wore the same makeup that she did every day; she wore red diamond earrings, complimented with golden shoes also similar to Korra's.

With a huge smile on Asami's face and a scowl on Korra's face, Asami grabbed Korra's hand and raced out outside to meet the boys.

* * *

Mako's jaw almost dropped as he watched as Korra and Asami stepped outside into the moonlight; Asami walked with confidence towards the fire bender and gave him a peck on the cheek. Korra slowly came out behind her, taking smaller, not as confident steps out of the building. Mako couldn't believe how amazing Korra looked; Asami nudged him in the ribs.

"Doesn't she look amazing" Asami said her hand stretched out pointing to Korra. Mako was trying his hardest not to show how much Korra's beauty affected him, but Bolin didn't even try to hide it. His eyes were wide, and basically drooling at the sight of her.

"She looks pretty amazing," Mako said, leaning down to give Asami a slight kiss, "You did amazing, hun." Asami nodded her head in thanks, and giggled as Bolin rambled.

"Korra...you look amazing!" Bolin yelled, "Your hair, and eyes, and your….wooow. You look amazing Korra." A slight blush ran across Korra's face as Bolin rambled on about her looks, but deep down she was a little disappointed the brothers were more attracted to her this way than how she was normally.

The two bending brothers were in nothing that extravagant, both of them were in nice tuxes that looked as if Asami had bought them. Mako had his hair slicked back like he did during his and Asami's first date, with a golden scarf tucked into his jacket, to match Asami. Bolin had his hair slicked back as well, but instead of a golden scarf, Bolin had a light blue scarf on to match Korra's dress.

After discussing the plan one more time, Team Avatar headed to one of the flying bison; Asami took a hold of Mako's arm as did Korra took Bolin's. Mako was to act as Asami's partner, and Korra was to act as Bolin's partner. They were to infiltrate the meeting, try to figure out what their plans were, see how many members the Red Lotus had, and figure out a plan from there. With a command, Tenzin had the bison on the way to Republic city, and Korra found herself hoping that everything would go according to plan.

* * *

Korra's grip on Bolin's arm tightened as they made their way through the entrance of the president's secret bunker, but apparently it wasn't that secret. The entrance was behind an old book store right next to the president's house. Metal benders opened up a secret passage way, and Team Avatar followed the metal hallway for about a quarter of a mile till they came up upon another door. Someone slid open a small peep hole, and stared at Team Avatar.

"In the era before the Avatar, we bent not the elements, but…" The eyes from beyond the door spoke. At first the whole team just stood their staring at the door not knowing what to say, but then all of a sudden Korra took a step forward and spoke.

"But the energy within ourselves" Korra's lips were moving as she spoke, but it did not sound as if Korra was speaking. The eyes behind the door gave the group another glance before sliding the peep hole closed; dust rumbled out from underneath the metal as it opened. Team Avatar's eyes grew wide as they saw how many people were in this bunker, and how large his bunker actually was. The bunker was basically another house under the ground; the president could withstand a whole war in here without once going to the surface. There was a large sea of chairs in the first room, only half full, and in front of all the chairs was one long table covered in a red cloth with red lotus flowers covering it. There also were a couple Pai'Sho tables in the corner, and once Bolin saw those he instantly want to run over, but Korra's hard grip on his arm kept him in place.

Korra and Bolin lead the way for the gang as, with her head held tall, made their way to a group of four chairs right next to each other. The group was turning heads left and right, jealous women glared at Korra and Asami, as men drooled over them. Korra thought she was over dressed for the occasion, but there were plenty of people in there that were dressed up a lot more than Korra was. Soon after the group was seated, Korra kept glancing around the room looking for the Red Lotus members they knew. Korra frowned when she couldn't find them. She leaned over to Bolin's ear and whispered as quietly as she could.

"I am going to go look around." With that Korra stood up and made her way to a hallway across from the groups chairs. If anyone stopped her and asked where she was going, Korra was just going to use to old 'I am looking for the bathroom'. Korra went down corridor after corridor, 'looking for the bathroom', and soon she found herself lost. The long metal hallways were lit by dim lights high on the walls. The hallways had many doors, some leading to bedrooms, or kitchens, or empty rooms, or more hallways.

Korra started to think about what Zaheer had said to her, and what had happened between them. A blush quickly covered her face as she remembered how close their lips were._ I can't allow that to happen again._ Korra was so lost in thought that she didn't see the other person rounding the corner; the two people collided with such a force that Korra started to fall backwards. A hand reached out and wrapped around her waist stopping her from falling, and pulling her against a warm body.

"My don't you look lovely tonight" A husky yet familiar voice spoke, as a warm feeling wrapped around her aura, "but, my avatar, you are a goddess walking among mortals everyday."


	6. My Air

Author's Note: I am sorry that this is such a short update, during softball last week I got a concussion and I am not even supposed to be writing this now, but this is what I had written before I got my concussion. But I couldn't leave you guys empty handed. I do not know when my next update will be, because of the concussion. But hopefully it won't be more than a week. Since I am not supposed to be on the computer, this is kind of like a rough draft. When I am better I will go back, fix on the mistakes, and make it longer. Sorry once again.

"…..My Air"

Korra's mouth gaped open as her face turned a wonderful shade of pink; she cursed her heart when it started to a little faster when she realized just how close he was. His familiar aura was beginning to wrap around her smaller frame, and for some reason it made Korra feel safe. Realizing Korra was just in his arms staring at him, she quickly shut her mouth. Zaheer couldn't help but let a real chuckle slip through his lips; Korra's face was now around the color of a strawberry and Zaheer took great pride that he was the one to make her blush.

"Uh…" Korra began to try to speak; she also tried to pull away a little, but that only made Zaheer grip her tighter, "Thank you for grabbing me before I fell. I don't think we met before, I'm Song, Song Macmu." Another chuckle slipped through Zaheer's lips; Korra although a little scared, couldn't help but get lost in the sound of his laugh.

"I know who you are," Zaheer said leaning in; Korra's eyes bugged out of her head as he was only centimeters away from her ear, "…my avatar." Korra shuddered when his breath hit her ear; Korra bit her lip so she wouldn't let a groan escape her lips. A frown graced Korra's face as she, not so gently, grabbed Zaheer's head and yanked him so he was right in front of her face. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, till a smirk appeared on Korra's face. That was the last thing Zaheer remembered as Korra yanked his head and smashed their lips together.

Korra surprised herself when she yanked him down for a kiss, but she wasn't going to sit there and let him play with her like that. Now it was her turn. She started to move her lips against his, letting her tongue slip out of her mouth and trace his bottom lip. Zaheer just stood there for a moment unable to decide what to do. She had shocked him by actually kissing him, but spirits, did she had the softest lips. Just as Zaheer closed his eyes and began to respond to the kiss, Korra forced herself to pull away. As much as she hated to admit it, she loved the feeling of his lips on her's. Zaheer for the second time tonight, was shocked and a little angered.

Korra pulled herself higher till she was at his ear and whispered, "I am no one's play thing," she placed a gentle kiss on his neck, leaving a set of red lips in her wake, "…my air." With that she pulled back and placed one hand on his chest, as if she was ready to push him away. Korra meant for it to come out like she was making fun of him, but it came out more sincere than she wanted.

"Hey!" A voice yelled from down the hall; Korra recognized the figure coming towards them was none other than Mako. Mako stopped dead in his track when he saw the couple; Zaheer was still holding her with an arm around her waist, and Korra had her hand on his chest. "What the spirits is going on?"

Korra calmly pushed against Zaheer's chest silently telling him to let her go, and he complied with her wishes. His mind still swimming with thoughts of Korra, the kiss, and what she had said. Korra took a step away from Zaheer, and turned to Mako.

"I was looking for the bathroom, not watching where I was going, I ran into him." Korra said, amazing herself with how calm she was speaking, "He caught me before I fell. That's all" Zaheer took a step forward, forcing himself to chuckle. Korra cringed, she rather his real laugh than this forced one.

"Yeah, she sure surprised the spirits out of me," Zaheer said glancing down at Korra, "But it was a pleasure to meet Song, I always enjoy meeting new Red Lotus members. I was actually just about to ask Song if she would care to join me for dinner tomorrow night." Korra and Mako's eyes widened and one could feel the rage pouring off of Mako.

"I must decline, my husband is in the conference room and it wouldn't be right." Korra politely said facing Zaheer, winking she turned to Mako with rage covering her face, "Why are you looking for me anyways, Ikari?" Korra said, almost laughing when Mako realized what she called him, but her anger grew when he glared at her, "Your wife is in the other room! Along with my husband! If wasn't gone long enough for him to worry, then I wasn't gone long enough for you to worry!"

Korra turned bowed a little to Zaheer, trying to stay in her character as Song, "I apologize for his outbreak. I wish I could stay and speak, but I must get back to my husband" Zaheer nodded, and with a loud sigh Korra grabbed Mako's hand and dragged him into the conference room. Zaheer smirked when he heard 'Song' yell how 'Ikari' needed to stop this 'infatuation' with her and start giving his wife more attention.

"What the hell, Mako?" Korra groaned as they got closer to the conference room.

"You were gone too long and I thought you ran into Zaheer," Mako said stopping, yanking Korra's arm backwards, "Which I was right! You were in his arms Korra! You need to more careful!"

"I was fine!" Korra yelled, turning to Mako and slammed her pointer finger into his chest, "I had everything under control! He didn't even realize it was me!" Mako sighed and wrapped his arms around Korra, earning a squeak from the young Avatar.

"I'm sorry," Mako said into her neck, for what seemed like the hundredth time tonight, Korra blushed a little, "I was just so worried." Korra softly sighed, and hugged the fire bender; tighter than she usually did, but she felt as if she just betrayed her whole.

Quickly they found themselves sitting next to their respective fake partners, as the conference began. Everyone around the room quickly took a seat among the sea of people, all the chit chat stopped as the lights dimmed a little and a bright light was placed on the long table in front of sea of chairs. The table now had a bunch of microphones on it; Zaheer, P'Li, Ghazan, and Ming-Hua sat in the middle of the table, a couple of other people that Team Avatar hadn't met yet filled the rest of the seats at the table. Asami held a small camera to her face and took several photos of the leaders sitting in the front of the crowd, she grabbed the photos one by one as they came out of the camera, shook them, then placed them in her golden purse.

"That must mean that they are some of the higher up leaders of the Red Lotus." Asami whispered to the group as she hid the camera once again; Korra just nodded in agreement realizing her interest in Zaheer was turning quite deadly.

Zaheer was the first to speak out of everyone at the table, "Thank you all for coming to this meeting, for the threat of the Avatar and her group is growing and a solution is needed." Everyone in the crowd seemed to either groan, or yell nasty names when Zaheer mentioned Korra. Team Avatar just turned and looked at the horrified look on the Avatar's face; she didn't realize this many people wanted her gone.

Ghazan was the next to speak into the microphone, "There have been ideas of using the new air nation to force the avatar out of hiding," Korra wanted to jump out of her chair and yell that she wasn't hiding, that she wasn't afraid of anyone, but Asami sensing Korra's distress reached other and grabbed her hand, "But we cannot kill all of the air benders, that would just send the unbalance the world once again. We can kill some of them thought." Ghazan chuckled at the end, causing the crowd to laugh as well.

Someone stood up in the front of the crowd, when Zaheer nodded to them they spoke, Asami quickly yanked her hand away from Korra to get a photo of who was speaking, "Do you plan on killing the Avatar?" Korra stiffened at the question, and she noticed that Zaheer slightly stiffened. Asami grabbed this photo, shook it, and when the picture began to appear she handed it to Korra. Korra gasped, the person standing was none other than the president himself.

After a moment of silence from Zaheer, P'Li took the opportunity to speak. She pulled the microphone closer, all was quiet as her words echoed throughout the entire room, "We must kill her. That is the only way."


	7. Our New Strategy

**Author's Note**: Sorry once again it took us so long to update, but I had a concussion and I finally got cleared from my concussion. The lines are signaling that we are switching between groups! So here it is!v I am writing the new chapter as I upload this one, I just wanted to add a couple small details! Thank you for reading, let us know what you think!

"…Our new strategy"

Hoots and hollers were heard throughout the room, but Korra couldn't breathe let alone speak. Her breath was caught inside her throat and her heart dropped into her stomach. They wanted to kill her. They wanted her dead. They were planning on murdering her. Korra couldn't wrap her mind around this; she couldn't believe how many people wanted to see her take her last breath. Korra could hear Mako's voice, but it became background noise. She couldn't understand what he was saying; she was more focused on trying to even out her breathing. Korra basically jumped out her skin when someone's hand jerked her chin towards the left; as her chin swung to the left, so did her fist connecting with the stranger's cheek bone.

The pop of his jaw echoed throughout the room, as the entire room got dead silent. Everyone's head turned towards Team Avatar. Korra finally realized who she had punched in the face; she looked up and saw Mako staring at her with a disbelief written on his face as he rubbed his jaw. Korra's face flushed as she realized all the attention was on her and her group; she was thankful that her hair was blocking her off from the eyes of the audience. She needed to find a way to stay in character.

"Sorry, but you have a wife!" Korra yelled leaving her hair blocking her face off from those in front of her; after quickly leaving another red hand print on Mako's face, Korra quickly moved her chair out of the way and sprinted down into the hallway.

Mako just stood there staring where Korra had disappeared, not only could he feel that his jaw was dislocated, but he was utterly confused. Although Mako was lost, Bolin quickly realized what Korra was trying to do; Bolin quickly stood up, and shoved Mako into the chairs. Mako looked bewildered; he had absolutely no idea why everyone was hitting him all of a sudden. Bolin's first twisted the collar of Mako's shirt and pulled him to Bolin's face.

"Stay in character…" Bolin whispered before pulling back and throwing Mako to the ground, "I am done with your attempt to get with MY wife! You lost your chance! She is mine now!" Although Mako now understood that this was all just a hoax, but for some reason Mako felt as if the words were personal. As if Bolin was, somewhere deep down, actually mad at him.

"I have no idea what you are talking about!" Mako yelled as he tried to get up, but stopped when he saw Bolin grab one of the chairs and hold it above his head. Bolin tilted his head a little to the left, trying to tell Mako to move in that direction. Mako seeing the hint quickly rolled towards that direction just as Bolin smashed the chair into the ground.

"Calm down, man!" Mako yelled as tried to stand up for the second time. But this time it was one of the metal bending guards by the door that held him down; Mako looked and saw that Bolin had some guards on him as well. The guards quickly started to usher the boys towards the exit Asami following right behind them, but before they got out of the bunker Mako heard Zaheer clear his throat over the microphone.

"Now seems like a good time to take a break." Zaheer said glancing around the room looking for the young Avatar, "There are refreshments in the other room. We will resume in twenty minutes." Without waiting for the rest of the council, Zaheer stood up and made his way into the hallway.

* * *

(With Korra)

Korra groaned as she went around another corridor, she cursed the president and the stupid people who build this stupid bunker. It was way too big, and way too confusing. Korra was aggravated that it hadn't gone according to plan; all because Korra zoned out and out of pure instinct she punched Mako. Korra hoped that he wasn't extremely mad at her, and she hoped that he wasn't hurt. She heard the cracking and popping of a dislocated jaw, but she really hoped that wasn't the case.

As Korra passed by another room, a hand quickly pushed out of the shadows and grabbed her arm, dragging her into the dark room. It happened so fast Korra had no time to react; she didn't realize what happened until she heard the click of the door behind her and felt someone slam her up against the wall. Korra struggled against the man, but he had her arms pinned above her head. Korra could feel herself blush at the feeling of all his body weight flush against her body She froze when she felt a familiar aura encase her; a rough pair of lips kissed her neck and bit down harshly.

"I do not take teasing very well," a rough voice calmly stated against her neck, "…my avatar." Korra couldn't help but relax a little in his arms, and with those last words he brutally smashed his firm lips against her now bruised ones. Korra let a squeak slip through her lips; Zaheer took the opportunity and pushed his tongue into her mouth. Their tongues fought for dominance, as he let go of her arms and picked her up by her waist. Out of instinct she wrapped her legs around Zaheer's waist as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him as close to her as she could.

Korra could feel the silk of her dress being pushed all the way up; she shivered a little as her legs were now bare and the lace underwear Asami made her wear was visible to Zaheer if he had looked down. Zaheer was too consumed in the kiss to notice this detail, but he did allow one of his hands to run down her ass and to her knee and back. Zaheer swore it was the softest things he ever felt, and he was determined to feel more. Korra chuckled in her head; _I am literally stuck between a hard thing and a wall._ After a moment both pulled away for the need to breathe, they stayed there staring into each other's eyes.

"What do you think you are doing?" Korra accused as she lowered her eyes trying to glare at him, but it came out in more of a sexual way.

"What we both want." Zaheer simply stated, and with that captured the Avatar's lips once more. Korra gripped that back of his head and pulled him tightly against her body.

Zaheer pressed Korra against the wall, as one of his hands slowly started to run up and down her rib cage. Korra's body started to tremble as the lust inside of body grew stronger like a wild fire. Korra left Zaheer's lips and started to kiss and suck on his neck; she was intentionally trying to leave marks on his body. A smirk trailed on her lips when she pulled back and saw three reddish-purple marks slowly appearing on his flesh.

Zaheer tried to keep his groans inside of him, he couldn't believe how the Avatar was acting, of course, he didn't even understand why he was acting the way he was. He wanted to mark her, make sure everyone knew that the Avatar…..no that Korra was all his. Once Korra pulled away from his neck, he quickly attacked her neck. With no mercy he would bite down on her soft flesh enjoying the way she would mew for him, and then go back and softly suck on the already sore flesh and listen to the way she groaned out.

His hand finally went around and gripped her breast, and he internally groaned. He couldn't understand how some teenage girl was doing this to him. Korra groans got louder as Zaheer kneaded Korra's breast through the fabric. How he longed to feel her, flesh on flesh. He needed her, and she was obviously aware of this fact when she started to grind into him. He was positive it was just to hear him groan like a teenage boy. His one hand left her chest and slowly made its way to the zipped on her waist; his two fingers wrapped around the zipper and started to pull down.

A knock on the door interrupted him, and with almost what seemed like a growl slipping through his lips, and a laugh from Korra's, Zaheer pulled the zipper back up. Zaheer put Korra back on the ground and stepped away from the flustered Avatar; turning on the light to make sure he looked presentable. Then he stopped and looked back at the flustered Avatar smirking in his direction, for once he let his façade fall and let a small smile grace his lips. But it was gone almost as fast as it appeared. He walked up to the Avatar; he lightly grabbed her hips, leaned down and gently placed his lips against hers.

"There is a door on the far side of this room, if you follow it, it will bring you to the grocery store in front of the President's house." Zaheer said quietly after they finally parted lips, "Go…" and with that last word, he slipped out of the door and went back into the hallway. Korra stood there for a moment, with her fingers touching her lips; she was shocked of the events that just took place. After a moment, she quickly made her way to the door he was talking about, and almost in a full on sprint, ran for the exit.

* * *

(With Zaheer)

"What is that, Zaheer?" P'Li harshly yet quietly asked Zaheer as they walked down the hallway together; sure she didn't know if she wanted to be with Zaheer anymore, but she wasn't happy to see hickeys on his neck. Zaheer's step didn't falter; all he did to acknowledge that he heard her was glance in her direction. Even Zaheer knew that their relationship was falling apart, and he didn't need to explain his business to her; especially since he didn't even know what his own business was. They quietly made their way to the table in front of the large crowd of people.

"Welcome back," P'Li said in a deathly calm voice into the microphone, "We are now going to explain our new strategy." Zaheer heard a couple of curious whispers within the crowd and loudly cleared his voice to get their attention.

"While becoming a new air bender, I have been reading a lot about old unspoken about techniques." Zaheer said glancing around the room, "One of the techniques that I came across is almost like how the water benders bend the blood within a human's body. But instead of the blood, I have learned how to bend the air within a person's nerves, or in simple terms, the air that travels through their brain."

Zaheer paused to let it sink into people's minds; it wasn't an easy concept to grasp. He, himself, was a little skeptical at first. After a moment he quickly stood and put his hands up in front of his face; he quickly picked a target and moved his fingers, flicked his wrists, and crossed his hands as the person's eyes widened when they realized they were no longer in control of their own body. Zaheer made the man stand up and walk to the front of the room.

"As you can tell, I have full control of the person." Zaheer simply stated as his eyes narrowed focusing on the way the air was flowing throughout the nerves, "The person has full consciousness of during this whole event, but they cannot control their bodies. So if I make them kill another, they will witness it with their own eyes, and watch as they slaughter their own friends. I could even make them speak if I wished."

"With this trick, we will use the new air benders and use them to attack the Avatar's group of friends." The man under control spoke in a monotone voice, but it was easy to tell it was him that was speaking. With a flick of his wrist, the man fell to the floor clutching his chest and wailing in pure agony. The crowd gasped as the heart wrenching low wails of the man reaches their ears, some of the women even turned away from the sight.

"I am also starting to be able to control the air within the man's own lungs." Zaheer said in his normal monotone voice; he quickly flicked his wrist one more time and released the man before he had actually killed him. "I could, if I wanted, pull the very breath out of his lungs. Killing him slowly and painfully."

The whole crowd went silent as they watched the wife of the man run out from the crowd and falling to her husband on the floor. The leaders of the Red Lotus, besides Zaheer's group, clapped. Zaheer took his seat one more time, and nodded to the crowd.

"We are now going to take questions." Ming-Hua whispered into the microphone; the crowd jumped as her voice echoed throughout the room. One woman stood up from the crowd, and when Zaheer nodded to her she quickly spoke.

"What is our role going to be in this plan?" Ghazan decided that he was going to answer this one, and tapped the mic to make sure it was loud enough.

"We need people to monitor the streets and make sure the Avatar isn't planning to come back to Republic City." His voice was calm and collected, "We also need more benders to infiltrate the Avatars 'new air nation'. Plus just in case this doesn't going according to plan; we need people to continue the Red Lotus going. Just in case we lose our lives for this cause.

"How long do you believe this is going to take?" A man this time stood up and asked the question this time. P'Li took the opportunity to answer this question as she grabbed the mic and brought it closer before anyone else could.

"Zaheer has already almost perfected his technique; he can now control up to four people at once," P'Li stated, and everyone could hear the venom she basically spit out of her mouth when she said Zaheer's name. "We just need at most a month, so we can get every little detail planned out; so nothing goes wrong."

The crowd kept firing questions at the Red Lotus leaders, and the Red Lotus leaders quickly answered the best that they could. But Zaheer stayed silent the whole time, even if one person asked about his new technique. His mind was miles away from this bunker, from this meeting; he just couldn't keep his mind off of the fiery woman that seemed to be consuming him alive. Yet he just let her.


	8. If He Cannot Fly

Author's Note: Hey guys, here is the next chapter! I know they keep getting interrupted but it's going to lead up to something good! We find out who is more willing to let themselves fall! Please review and let us know what you think!

I also added a longer talking scene please review!

If He Cannot Fly?

Korra quickly made her way out of the secret tunnel, and just like Zaheer had said, she ended up coming up through a hidden passage on the floor of the store. She gave the store owner quiet a scare when Korra "appeared out of nowhere", as the lady had put it. After Korra calmed the store owner down, and convinced the owner that she wasn't there to rob the store, Korra made her way out of the store.

Once Korra got onto the street reality hit her in the face like a brick, she let out a loud grown and palmed herself in the forehead. The team never came up with a plan just in case they got split up; to make it even worse, Korra was band from the city! She wasn't allowed to be there. Korra quickly dove into the nearest alley and disappeared into the shadows as she made her way to the harbor. Korra moved as fast as she could; her eyes darted from object to object making sure there was no one around to see her.

When the young Avatar finally reached the harbor, she took a moment and stared into the dark waves as they crashed against the brick wall. The leap never seemed scarier to Korra, she was always one to laugh as she took the jump, but for some reason this time the fall seemed so much worse. Would she be the same if she allowed herself to plummet to the dark waters below? Would she be happy? A sad smile reached Korra's face, she knew she would never know the answer unless she took the risk and let herself fall. Korra shook her head, and with a deep breath, she lifted her arms out to the side and let herself fall. The air was lashed against her tanned skin as she fell closer towards the water; with a sharp tug of her arms the waves reached up to meet Korra and safely bring her underneath the harsh current.

Korra reached her arms in front of her and started to swim in the direction of Air Temple Island; Korra had no idea if that is where they would be, but that was her only shot. Korra stopped for a second, and with a determined look on her face she curled her wrists once and pushed them behind her. The water jetted behind her, causing her to shoot through the water like a bullet; the water she commanded increased her speed by an immeasurable amount. Korra always loved the way the water felt as it passed by her; the ocean surrounded her body like

Korra could see the bottom of the island coming into her sight; a slight smirk reached her face as she shot herself out of the water into the open air. As she floated through the air she looked down and a smile of relief took her lips when she saw them waiting for her, all she had to do was let herself to fall, no, to float to the ground.

* * *

(With Zaheer)

Zaheer silently cursed every single soul in the room as another person rose up to ask yet another question. He did not listen to the question and only could hear the man's voice, not his words. His patience was quickly slipping through his clenched fists; if they did not trust his new technique they should just say so. Zaheer's eyes darted to each person; he could see the fear quickly appear when their eyes met his. These lowly benders should trust, not fear, him; they were not the enemy, the Avatar was. But was that statement even true anymore? Zaheer closed his eyes as he remembered how sweet the Avatar's lips tasted, how soft her hands felt in his calloused ones, how right she felt against his body.

Zaheer almost growled, when women with a high pitched voice interrupted his very thoughts; he needed to go somewhere peaceful. Somewhere quiet. Zaheer took a deep breath, and as he exhaled he felt his spirit crawl its way out of his body. His spirit raced into the spirit world searching for quiet, although subconsciously he was searching for a feisty water tribe girl.

When he arrived in the spirit world, he felt almost instantly at peace with himself and the world. The soft breeze blew by him and rustled his loose clothes with the leaves in the trees. He looked up and watched as the spirits calmly swam through the clouds with not a care in the world, as the sun gently shinned upon them. Zaheer got up and sat against the large tree; this is where him and the young Avatar always met, and he could not bring himself to leave this area just in case she were to arrive. Although he would never admit that was why he wouldn't leave.

A couple moments later a strong aura appeared from the other side of the large tree; Zaheer found himself smiling as a scent of the ocean hit his nose with a hint of ash and vanilla strangely, he quickly removed the smile from his face. The aura did not seem to be moving, he knew the Avatar was on the other side of the tree, and he knew that she could sense him as well. Then why wasn't she moving? Why wasn't she coming to see him? Was that why she came here? Maybe she is afraid of him. That last thought troubled him more than he thought it would. Zaheer was shaken from his thoughts when he heard a strong yet soft voice call to him from the other side of the large tree.

"Zaheer?" the voice called, and for a moment he wondered if she couldn't sense him, "What is your favorite thing to do when you are filled with emotion?" Zaheer's eyes widened for a second at the randomness of her question, but he leaned his head back against the tree and answered the young girl.

"I always escape to this land," Zaheer's voice sounded like silk as it swayed through the air, "Is this not the quietest place you have ever been? Does the wind not make the loveliest goosebumps rise up from your skin? Does the sun not warm you up to your very core? This place born from chaos now has a warm place among this world. And not many get to see it during their life time."

Korra was quiet for a moment as the wisdom in his words hit her; it did not hit her hard, but it slowly made its way through to her heart and she quickly understood every word.

"Yes," Korra whispered as she rested her head against the tree as well and stared at the sky, "Nothing can compare to its beauty."

"There you are wrong, my Avatar," Zaheer whispered so quietly that the young girl who was lost in her own world did not even notice he had spoken. Her next question caused his very own heart to betray him and it stopped for just a moment.

"Have you ever been in love?" Korra asked in a voice that was filled with such admiration, that he had to force himself to keep a blank face.

"Why do you ask?" It was true; he had no idea where the Avatar was getting at with these questions.

"Well they say that when someone is in love, that they would do anything and everything for that person or thing." Korra said still staring up at the clouds, not sure where she was going either, "That if someone is in love that they will fight for them, protect them, stand in from of them, yet let them take the lead. Tenzin always tells me that I must allow myself to love in order to connect with my spiritual side in a better level. He says those who love, or are in love, or even those who even have loved are truly connected to their own spiritual side and connected to the earth on a truly deep level…"

Zaheer listened with closed eyes as Korra spoke so beautifully about something he had once felt; yet that was all gone now. Yet as the music of her voice filled his ears, so did he long to hold her in his arms and show her how it should feel.

"…and I thought of you." Korra continued after short pause, as if she was debating if she should say what she was thinking, "you are an extremely amazing air bender and you are truly connect to the spirits and your own. So I was just wondering."

"Ah…" Zaheer said, and once against the Avatar had found a way to leave him without worlds.

"I mean, you don't need to answer." Korra awkwardly laughed trying to relieve the tension she so foolishly created.

"Love is a gift," Zaheer only slightly hesitated but Korra was listening so hard she quickly picked up on it, "yet it is a ball and chain. It tethers you to this earth, and holds someone back from their true potential. Love sets you free, yet it is ones greatest prison."

"Ouch, that was uh…" Korra paused for a moment, she did not know how to react, but she did know her heart dropped a little when he described love in such a negative way. "…depressing."

"But yes, I have been in love." Zaheer sighed remembering he was trying to avoid her question from the start.

"Are you now, Zaheer?" Zaheer tensed up at the impact that her words hit his body, _was he?_

"I…" Zaheer began to speak, "I am not."

And with those three words, Korra's whole spirit deflated and she felt instantly stabbed in the back. She just sat against the tree, not knowing what to say to the air bender. She even questioned leaving, because now she wasn't in the mood to even talk to him. Zaheer sensing her spirit fall a great number decided to bring up another conversation.

"What is your favorite element, my Avatar?" Zaheer asked, truly curious of what her answer would be. Would she pick fire, because of her fiery spirit? Or water because it is calm and peaceful? Or earth because it is as strong and steady as she is?

"It is air." Korra mumbled, a slight blush covering her face. She felt weak when she said that, because it was something that no one would have guessed and it went against everything she was. "I love air, and not because it keeps me alive." She chuckled a little bit at her own joke, "I love air because it is the opposite of who I am. It took me the longest to master and it actually wasn't until I got my bending taken away by Amon that I learned air bending. The other three elements came to me so easily that it was almost boring to learn. Air bending feels so different than the other elements in so many ways. I feel so free, like I have no care in the world. It is peace. It is love. It is life, and it can bring life and it can take life. It is something so purely beautiful, yet so deadly at the same time."

"Just like you," Zaheer whispered, but this time Korra heard it and she jerked up from against the tree, "my avatar."

"Where did you grow up?" The question threw him off, but he quickly answered the young woman. Zaheer instantly realized that Avatar probably heard what he said and she felt so uncomfortable with it that she changed the subject. Zaheer internally cursed himself for being so foolish, and then he cursed himself again for caring what she thought of him.

"I grew up in the northern part of Earth Kingdom." Zaheer said as he closed his eyes, and thought back to when he was younger. "Where are your parents, my Avatar?"

"My mom is named Senna, and my dad is Tonraq. They live in the Southern Water Tribe." The voice seemed to warm up a little at the mention of her parents. "Where are your parents?" She sounded curious yet hesitant.

"My parents died when I was young." Zaheer opened his eyes as he rested his head against the tree and stared at the leaves of bright reds and yellows. "Earth benders attacked the village that I was born in, and they killed my parents. I was outside with the other younger kids in the village, and I hid when the village was attacked. When I went home, it was too late. A Red Lotus member found me a couple months later in the forest and brought me to a temple. I was raised by the Red Lotus. They are all I have."

The voice had gone silent for a couple of moments, as if she was trying to think of the correct thing to say. Zaheer had to reassure her that she had said nothing wrong, and that it did not hurt as bad.

"It was a long time ago; I can't even remember their faces." Zaheer said in a soft tone, "Do you ever miss your parents?"

"All the time," the voice was quieter than before, "but I know that this is my duty, and I need to complete it before anything else. The world's wellbeing goes before my own. I would rather the world be balanced and me be broken, then me be happy and the world in shambles. I grew up knowing I am the Avatar, and that my only duty in this life was restore and keep balance. That is all I know."

This hit Zaheer hard; he had no response to that. Once again this young Avatar left him speechless; she took his voice away as she took his very breath out of his lungs. This woman was wiser beyond her years; she can see the corruption in this world, yet she held onto her childlike innocence and didn't let the world destroy her.

Zaheer stood up, and walked around the tree. He almost smiled to see the Avatar standing up against the tree, in her normal clothes with her eyes closed and the wind blowing her hair. Zaheer walked towards her, with a straight face, and held out his hand to her. The young Avatar slowly opened her eyes, and with a small smile on her face she took his hand and he dragged her in close to his body. She wrapped her arms around his neck, as he wrapped his arms around her torso. As if there was a song dancing in the wind, Zaheer started to rock her as he rested his forehead against hers. Their eyes fell shut as the two slowly danced back and forth to the music that was playing in their heads.

Zaheer gently lifted her chin up and placed a soft loving kiss on her lips, and like every time he was with her, the chaos in his mind seemed to stop and all that he could think of was her. Zaheer leaned down to the young Avatar's ear and before he second guessed himself he spoke, "What if I told you, I could take you away from all this? What if I asked you to run away with me?"

Zaheer could feel the young woman tense up almost immediately and she stopped moving all together. He quickly shut himself down and he shoved her away from him. The anger that was written on her face scared even Zaheer, but he would not let her know that.

"What was that for?" The young Avatar sneered as she walked towards Zaheer and jammed her finger into his chest. "Why the spirits did you shove me like that?"

"If I wished for you to know I would tell you." Zaheer spoke in a deathly calm voice, "Now wouldn't I, Avatar?" He all but sneered when the word 'Avatar' hit his tongue.

"Oh, we are back to this now?" The Avatar screamed, her hands balled up into fists as the anger was as clear as the sun above. "I thought we were closer than this!"

"Clearly you were mistaken." Zaheer said as he turned his back on the young woman and started to walk away.

"Do you even know how to love?" The young woman whispered, Zaheer froze when he heard the last word slip past her lips. Zaheer turned around just in time to swatch her disappear into the air. Only a second passed before Zaheer disappeared himself, words he wished he had said still hung in the air with no one around to hear them.

* * *

When Zaheer opened his eyes he was back in the meeting room, he looked down at his lap and clenched his eyes and fists closed. Zaheer abruptly slammed his hands on the table as he stood up, he did not lift his head to look at the crowd, his eyes were still closed and his head was still facing down.

"This meeting is over." Zaheer said as he felt his hands fist against the table; his voice seemed forced as anyone could feel the agitation coming off of him in waves, "Thank you all for coming. We will send out letters to all who wish to help."

At first the crowd did not move from their seats, all were still in shock to move. Zaheer took a deep breath and snapped his neck up so he was looking at the crowd; that is what did it. All of the people quickly grabbed all of their belongings and filed out of the door. Once the crowd had left, the Leaders of the Red Lotus stood up and starting saying their goodbyes; Zaheer did not move until only his group was left in the bunker. Zaheer stood straight up and headed towards the exit, not even glancing at his peers as he headed towards the harbor.

Zaheer heard his group's whispers from behind him, but he did not need to turn around and face them about the questions they had. They knew not to bother him; for him to show emotion, it must be massive. Although he seemed quite calm from the outside, but his group knew that there was a storm battling on inside of him. They just didn't know it was about the young Avatar that their group chased after.

Once the group arrived at the harbor, no one wasted anytime getting onto the airship. None of them wanted to make Zaheer anymore angry, but he did board the airship right away. Zaheer stood at the edge of the wall and watched as the dark waves as they crashed against the brick wall. The ocean reminded him so much of the young Avatar. She could never be tamed, she was just meant to be free. He knew she would plague his dreams, but in that moment he could not even bring himself to say her name. For he knew if he said her name, he would allow himself to fall. Why should he let himself fall, if he cannot fly? With that thought Zaheer quickly turned his back on the ocean and boarded the airship without even a glance back.


	9. I will never let you fall

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long, but with school everything is getting so hectic. Senior year can be extremely busy. Here you go! Tell us what you think!

I will never let you fall

_ What if I asked you to run away with me?_ Korra sat up in her bed, and put her hand up to her mouth as his words circled around in her mind. _What did Zaheer mean when he said that?_ Did he truly want them to run away and play pretend? Or was he trying to make her off balance and then take her captive?

Korra was trying to convince herself that was what he was trying to do to her, but his face when she had stopped dancing kept reappearing in her head. He looked so destroyed; she never saw so much pure emotion on his face. Then as fast as it was there, it was soon gone and his normal façade was back in place. That was one of the first times she saw him smile as well. Korra couldn't help but let a small smile appear on her face as she thought back to how happy she was to see him smiling just for her.

Her bottom lip began to tremble as she realized that she was probably never going to see that beautiful smile every again. She was never going to feel his strong larger hands incase hers every again. Soon small moans were slipping through her lips and tears began to fall down her face. She clenched her eyes shut and let out a sad groan as she let her fist make contact with the concrete walls. This time she felt no relief when small pieces of concrete hit her bed.

Her breathing became labor, and she was no longer trying to hold the noises inside of her. Every hoarse cry clawed its way out up her throat just making it burn even more. Korra grabbed her knees and tucked them into her chest, as she let her body violently rock with each sob. She didn't realize how much Zaheer had gotten to her with their few encounters; with each of their small talks he slowly made his way into her heart. Her dug into her scalp and she shook her head trying to make herself stop crying. Korra was right, he was her air. She needed him to breathe. She needed to see him.

"Korra, is everything alright?" A knock and a voice behind the door caused Korra to freeze. She cursed the fire bender who was on the other side of the door. Korra slowly made her way off of her bed, whipping her eyes trying to get rid of any evidence that she was crying.

"Yeah I am fine." Korra said trying to sound as normal as she could as she opened the door; she found herself looking at a disheveled Mako. Who looked as if he just rolled out of bed, _he probably did. I probably woke him up with all the noise I was making. I hope I did not wake anyone else up. _

Mako's eyes had widened at how Korra looked; she was in her bindings, her hair was a mess, her eyes were all red a puffy, and there were still tears making their way down her cheeks. She had her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes were looking at the ground, the girl in front of him was not the Korra he knew. The girl in front of him was a broken piece of her.

"Oh, Korra," Mako whispered in a low voice, "Are you sure? Is there anything I can do?" Even when he spoke, Korra's eyes did not seem to meet his. He just wasn't the person that she needed tonight.

"I wish you could." As she spoke her voice began to crack, she leaned up against the door frame trying to stabilizing her shaking knees. "But it was just a dream." Korra whispered as she pushed off the door frame, and closed the door as she turned away from the man. Leaving him standing at the door all by himself.

Korra threw herself on her bed with a loud cry, her face deep in the cushion. With the cushion muffling her noises she let the tears fall down her race with rapid speed. She needed to see him, she wouldn't be able to leave with him, but she needed to let him know that she needed him. She needed to tell him that she, that she loved him.

Korra's eyes shot wide open when that thought ran through her mind. It was true, she had fallen for the new air bender and there was nothing that she could do about it. Her heart began to beat faster as she thought back to all of the times they spent together. Whether or not he needed her was the question.

Korra slowly pushed herself off of her mattress and sat herself up in a meditating position and took a deep breath. It was hard for Korra to calm herself down enough to release her spirit. After some time, the tears had stopped falling from her eyes, and her breathing had leveled out to a normal tempo. Her sprit slowly started to leave her body, but then behind her mind the sight of him leaving filled her body. The fear consumed her and she let out a blood curling scream.

Korra's body fell forward off of the bed face first and hit the ground with a large bang. Her body laid on the hard ground sprawled out, and that is how everyone found her as they swarmed into her room. Mako barged through the door, when he saw Korra laying on the ground he quickly ran to her. He slowly rolled her over so her head was resting on his lap; soon Tenzin, Pemma, Bolin, and Asami ran into the room as well.

"What happened?" Tenzin quickly asked Mako as he kneeled down next to the fire bender.

"I don't know." Mako said, staring down at Korra's pain stricken face, "I came in here earlier because I heard crying. When she answered the door, her eyes were all red and she looked broken. When I asked if I could do anything, she said no, and then closed the door in my face. I ran into the room when I heard her scream. I should have never left her alone."

"This is not your fault," Tenzin said to Mako as he put his hand on Mako's shoulder. Tenzin looked down at the young Avatar and his face twisted up in confusion. "I can only sense some of her spirit here."

"What does that mean?" Asami asked as she took another step closer to Korra's body and Tenzin.

"When going into the spirit world, one must stay completely calm and not let a single emotion take control of them." Tenzin explained as he picked Korra up bridal style, "If one gets filled with fear or sadness half of the soul will want to stay and half of it will want to leave. Most of the time, one would just not be able to go to the spirit world and be fine. But, if one's soul was already leaving the body, and the emotion hit with a strong enough force. Then her soul would have torn leaving half of it here, and half of it went to the spirit world."

"What do we can we do?" Pemma asked resting her hand on her husband's back.

"I don't know…" Tenzin said staring down at Korra, "I don't believe there is anything that we can do to help her."

* * *

Zaheer had fought with himself most of the night, but once dawn started to hit, he convinced himself to go and see Korra. He needed to… well he didn't know exactly what he needed to do. But he knew he needed to do it. Whenever it came to the fiery Avatar he lost all common sense; he never knew what he was supposed to do. All he knew is that he wanted to be near here. He needed to feel her radiant aura surround him once again. For all times.

So that is where he was now, waiting for Korra in the same place they always met. Underneath the same spiritual tree; the spirit world seemed off today. Most of the spirits were in panic, and the sun was not out. Something was wrong, and Zaheer had a bad feeling that it had something to do with Korra. But deep in his heart he was hoping that it wasn't.

Zaheer felt a weird presence appear in front of him, it felt like Korra, but not completely. When he opened his eyes, he saw her standing a couple feet in front of him in nothing but her bindings. She was looking down at the ground, but Zaheer could see the tear stains that covered her cheeks. Something was off about her; Zaheer slowly stood up and took a step towards the Avatar.

"Korra?" Zaheer whispered as he took another step towards her; stretching his arm out towards her. Korra lifted her head and her eyes were filled with fear as he reached for her.

"I…I….I…Lo.." Korra began to speak, but a heart stopping screech ripped through her mouth, interrupting her. Zaheer took a step back, not sure of what to do.

Her eyes fluttered closed and she started to fall towards the ground. Zaheer's eyes went wide as he leaped forward. The Avatar hit his chest, and he quickly wrapped his arms around her as he caught her torso before she hit the ground. He gently lowered them both to the ground; with her head in his lap with his legs crossed. Zaheer brushed her hair out of her race and watched as her face scrunched up in pain.

"I will never let you fall." He whispered as he leaned down and kissed her forehead.


	10. Do you have something to live for

Author's note: Here is the next chapter, guys! Hope you enjoy it, Please review and let us know what you are thinking!

Do you have something to live for?

Korra let out a loud groan as she slowly sat up; it felt as if someone was hitting her head with a hammer every couple seconds. A searing pain was radiating throughout her body, starting at her heart. Her hand slowly made its way to her chest, and when it finally made it there her hand began to be covered in some sticky liquid. Korra, fearing the worst, slowly opened her eyes and looked down at her hand. Blood. Her hand was covered in blood; her chest bindings were soaked in blood. Korra could tell that the original wound was from her heart, because of the deeper reddish brown color closer to where her heart was.

Korra tried to quickly jump up, but she ended up slowly standing to her feet. It was almost excruciating to breathe, but Korra used a stone figurine near her to pull herself up. The statue was taller than she was; she slowly looked up to see what she was grabbing on to and she stumbled backwards in shock when she was it was a half of a statue of herself with spirits all over it. The spirits looked as if they were building on to the statue; bring blocks of marble and stone to carve. When Korra stumbled backwards she hit another statue that was what appeared to be Aang. Korra's breathe started to become labored and her heart started to beat even faster causing the pain to increase ten folds. Korra let out a loud groan and fell to her hands and knees trying to calm herself down.

"Korra, you need to calm down." A deep voice spoke out from the shadows, Korra looked around for who was speaking, but she couldn't see them.

"Don't you think I am trying to?" Korra all but yelled at the voice, "Who are you? Show yourself?" Korra tried to make herself sound tough, but it came out more in a weak tired voice. Out of the shadows, Aang appeared. "Aang?"

"Yes, Korra it is me." Aang said, but his face was without its normal smile, he had a very sorrowful look on his face. "The question is not why I am here, but why are you here?"

"I don't even know where I am." Korra said as she tried to stand up once more, but Aang put his hand out to stop her. With a groan Korra turn herself over so she was sitting on her butt leaning against a statue.

"You are at the southern air temple, Korra." Aang said looking around, "Were you in a fight?" Korra looked at him in confusion, and shook her head. "How did you die?"

"What?" Korra yelled, but then winced at the pain it caused in her chest, "I am not dead! I am right in front of you! I still have a job to do!"

"You are dying then."

* * *

"What do you mean there is nothing we can do?" Mako yelled at Tenzin, who was still holding the unconscious Korra in his arms. Although she was unconscious she was still squirming, letting out mewls of pain, and blood had started to pour from her chest and mouth. Tenzin had wrapped her chest in hopes of slowing the bleeding down, but it only seemed to increase the bleeding. Korra's eyes were wide open, glowing as if she was in the Avatar state.

"I mean she must do this on her own," Tenzin calmly spoke as he looked down at who he thought of as a daughter. "If one splits their own soul the only way to fix it is if they can call their soul back together."

"There must be something that we can do!" Mako sneered, as if he was trying to convince himself more than the others. Tenzin turned around and gave Mako a mournful look.

"The only way that she will live, is if she decides that she wants to keep on living." Tenzin spoke as if he had already given up hope on the young avatar.

"Why wouldn't Korra want to live anymore?" Mako once was yelling, scared of knowing the answer. "Why wouldn't she just call back her spirit and come back to all of us? Why would she leave all of us?"

"Obviously, Korra was scared of something. This fear is what tore her soul in half; she might be scared of her Avatar duties." Tenzin said, his spirit slowly lowering with each passing moment.

"Like how Avatar Aang frozen himself in the ice block?" Asami asked, stepping forward and placing her hand on Mako's shoulder.

"Yes, but she could also not know that she is dying." Tenzin spoke moving Korra's hair out of her eyes, "Or she could not know how to call her soul back together. Since her soul is not solely hers, it belongs to the older Avatars as well; she could stop the Avatar cycle all together." Everyone let out a loud gasp.

"Why is she in the Avatar State?" Asami asked getting more worried by the moment.

""It is as if she tore Raava from her own soul. Raava is still trapped inside of Korra's body and is trying to reconnect with her." Tenzin stared deep within the white eyes that seemed to hold a lot of fear in them, "But Korra cannot hear her cries. If Korra does not reconnect her soul, and reconnect with Raava before she dies…we do not know what could happen."

"So she could come back and not be the Avatar anymore?" Pemma asked looking as if she going to start to cry.

"Yes it is a possibility." Tenzin said with a great weight upon his shoulders.

* * *

"What do you mean I am dying?" Korra yelled at Aang, "That makes no sense at all! How am I dying then?" Aang could feel the anger that was gravitating off of the young girl.

"I do not know what has happened to cause you to begin to die; only you know that one." Aang simply stated with a grim look on his face, "I can only tell you that you are dying because the spirits are already building your statue. As an Avatar dies, or begins to die, the spirits begin to build their statue in their image so none will forget them."

"If I am dying," Korra began to speak, "then where are the rest of the Avatars? Why didn't they come and say 'welcome to death' to me like you did?"

"Because they cannot speak to you until you are fully dead." Korra made a face and was opened her mouth to speak but Aang cut her off, "And before you ask, the only way I am able to speak to you now is because I was the Avatar before you. You and I have a stronger bond then you do with the rest of the Avatars."

Korra's mouth turned into the shape of a circle as if she was saying "oh". Korra looked all around her, seeing all of the older Avatar's statues with their eyes glowing white.

"Why are their eyes lit up as if they all are in the Avatar state?" Korra mumbled not wanting to sound stupid for not knowing.

"Whenever an Avatar goes into the Avatar state the statue's eyes begin to glow just like yours." Aang said glancing around, "Meaning right now as we speak, and you dying, your body has shocked itself into the Avatar state. What do you last remember doing?"

"Uh, I was trying to go into the spirit world," Korra said wincing as she began to remember the pain, "As my soul was almost out of my body, I just remember this excruciating pain fill my whole body. Then everything went black, and I woke up here."

"What were you thinking of when you began to go into the spirit world?" Aang asked the young girl; Korra gave him an odd look, but answered anyways.

"I was calm, and at first I was thinking of nothing." Korra began to speak, but hesitated for a moment not wanting to admit that she was scared of something.

"You know, it's okay to be scared. The important thing is to talk about our fears, because if we don't, they can throw us out of balance" Aang spoke with a caring smile on his face.

"Tenzin told me that one time," Korra said with a sad smile on her face, "When I was so scared, I had felt so helpless."

"That is because I use to tell Tenzin that all the time," Aang said, smiling as he looked up thinking about his son. "Now what did you feel after you were calm?"

"Well, like I said at first I was thinking about nothing and I was calm," Korra spoke in a quiet voice, "But then the idea of someone, that I care for a lot, leaving me flashed through my mind and I didn't want to go see him anymore. Yet another part of me did, and that is when the pain took over my body."

"I see," Aang said looking down at the young girl, "You must have torn your soul, Korra. There is no way for this to happen, as far as I can think of."

"So am I going to die?" Korra spoke with fear and anger dancing inside of her almost white eyes, "Is there nothing that I can do to stop this?"

"If you want to live," Aang said starting to stroke his beard as he thought about it, "then you must call your souls back together."

"What do you mean, 'if I want to live'" Korra yelled, "Of course I want to live! I have a job to do!"

"No, not like that." Aang said with frustration clearly written on his face, "I did not say if you felt like you had to live. If you truly want to return to your body and become the Avatar again. You not only have to reconnect your soul, but you must reconnect to Raava in order to be the Avatar again. Otherwise you will be just another water bender; with no duties to the world and no connection to the spirits."

"Wait, so you mean I wouldn't be able to visit the spirit world anymore?" Korra said with sadness deep in her voice.

"No." Aang said in a simple answer. "It comes down to one thing, Korra."

"And what would that be?" Korra said her voice filled with determination. "I want to live. I want to be the Avatar."

"Do you have something to live for?"


	11. Just a Dream

Author's Note: Here is the next chapter! We are so glad that all of our fans are still here and letting us know what you all think! Thank you! Please keep reviewing and letting us know what you think!

Just a Dream

"What do you mean?" Korra asked getting more and more tired by the moment, "Something to live for? What exactly do you mean?"

Korra groaned when she looked over her shoulder and saw that the statue was more than half way complete. Even she knew that if the spirits finished before she was able to get her spirits back together then she would truly die. Nothing would be able to bring her back at that point.

"We all have a reason to live." Aang began; he knew this was going to be hard for her since she was a very hard headed person and did not like to admit her weaknesses. But she had to realize that love, and affection is not weaknesses. "Do you have someone to protect? Someone that when you get near them you instantly relax? Someone that even your spirit yearns for? Someone that is worth the risk?"

"Worth the risk…" Korra whispered under her breath, her head jerked up. "I need to leave now."

Korra clenched her eyes closed, took a breath, and with a tight grip on the statue she was leaning on, Korra clawed her way to her feet. Although her hands were covered in blood, the blood did not seem to stick to the statue; as if there the spirits made sure all of the statues stayed in the best condition. Korra took another deep breath as she slowly lifted her right leg and as gently as she could, she placed her foot on the ground. Once her foot touched the cold wet ground, a flash of pain shot through her body, her leg collapsed from underneath her and she felt herself falling towards the ground.

Korra quickly clutched at the statue, and with a painful scream she harshly slammed her right foot back on the ground to keep herself up. Aang had started to lung forward to catch her from falling; Aang walked over and helped Korra balance herself out.

"Korra, you are in no condition to try and go out into the world." Aang said in a chastising tone as he took a step back, his arms out ready to catch her as if she was going to fall again. Korra's head had been down, but with his words her head snapped up and she glared daggers in his direction.

"I have a reason to live. I am not going to stand here and allow that reason to slip through my hands."

* * *

"Korra! Korra, answer me!" Zaheer yelled as he gently shook Korra's lifeless body in his lap. "Please, wake up…" His voice beginning to sound broken as it slowly faded to nothing.

Zaheer pulled Korra's body up to his chest, and he clung to it as a little kid clings to his blanket. He rested his head in the crook of her neck as his body began to shake. He would say he never shed a tear over the young Avatar that day, although he would be right, his body shook with dry and violent sobs for the beauty in his arms. Through all the scrolls he has read, he could not think of anything that could save her. Zaheer cursed her, he cursed the spirits, but most of all he cursed himself and placed all the blame on his shoulders.

Zaheer slowly lessened his grasp on the young Avatar, but did not let her go. He just allowed her torso to move a couple inches away from his own so he could look into her eyes. Her eyes were now open; her eyes were rolled back into her head but they flickered between the normal white of the eye to the glowing icy white color when she went into the Avatar state. Her eyes were filled with fear, it did not matter what color they were; the fear in her eyes was enough to scare any man. Zaheer did not know exactly what he felt for this girl in his arms, but all he knew was that he could not lose her. The world and everyone on this spirit forsaken world needed her.

"I'm….. so….scared." Zaheer could barely make out the words that slipped through her lips, but he never heard her sound so weak before.

This meant that she was alive, barely, but she was still alive and fighting as hard as she could. He took a deep breath to calm himself, he could not lose composure for too long; he gathered the young Avatar in his arms bridal style and slowly stood up. With one last look at the girl who laid lifelessly in his arm, he and the girl disappeared into the air leaving no trace behind them.

When they reappeared Zaheer was standing in a grass field with nothing but a circular hot spring lines with beautifully carved stone. The symbols of the elements were carefully carved into the thousand year old stone, with beautifully crafted marks and writings around the symbols. Around the stone there were four large rocks almost touching the tree tops surrounding them. One of these rocks had the water bending symbol carved in it with water overflowing from the top of it and into the grass beneath it. One had the air symbol carved in it and once could see the gusts of wind surrounding the pillar with green leaves almost dancing within the wind. The one with the earth symbol carved in it had vines coming up from the ground to surround the stone pillar with a single white lotus flower in the middle of the vines. The last had the fire bending symbol in it and lightning scorched the stone as it erupted from all cracks of the pillar.

Zaheer slowly walked over to the hot spring and looked into the waters, well at what seemed to be water; the water was clear as clear can be, but it had what looked like large tea leaves within it. The mist coming up from the springs spiraled up and danced with the stars hanging above the two. Zaheer slowly made his way to his knees and gently laid Korra in the waters. Once her skin touched the water, the water turned a teal and began to shine brightly. Korra's body gently floated on top of the now gently swaying waters.

Zaheer stood up and took a couple steps back, silently praying to any spirits that were listening to his petty prayers. With a blank look on his usually dim face he watched as Korra's torso lurched up out of the water as her eyes widened as they glowed a bright white. A white beam came out of each of her eyes, and her mouth as it was just as wide as her eyes. Two strangled gasped escaped through her lips and then the water turned clear once again.

Korra's torso hit the waters with a huge splash as some of the water leaped from the pools and into the grass. Her eyes turned their normal blue and rolled back into her head as they fluttered closed. Zaheer froze for a moment, as Korra's body, as if it had become dead weight, started to sink into the pools dark depths. Zaheer's whole body began to rock with fear as, for just a moment he watched her head go under to the point where he could barely see her. He no longer cared about controlling his emotions as the emotions swam throughout his mind and rage over took his whole body. Zaheer quickly started to run towards the pool; he pushed off the balls of his feet to propel himself into the pools.

As soon as his feet left the wet grass, something began to rip him away from the pools. Zaheer yelled and try to fight his way to Korra, but all he could do is watch her drift farther down as his own fear ripped him away from the spirit world.

When Zaheer opened his eyes he was sitting in a meditation pose on his bed in the airship. Zaheer's breath became labored as he became more and more angry and disappointed at himself. With a loud yell he stood up and flipped his mattress over. Another yell ripped its way out of his throat as he grabbed the edges of the bookshelf and ripped it from its hinges. Books flew from the shelves as if they were trying to escape this man's rage. Storming over to his desk, with a loud grunt, Zaheer flipped his desk over on its side.

All of his pent up rage was finally being released, as he was still trying to escape the burning sensation in his throat. He tightened his jaw as he felt it begin to tremble with the risk of looking weak. Letting out a heart wrenching sob he turned and smashed his fist against the wall. He was so lost in his own anger that he couldn't hear the threatening footsteps of his partners above him. Panting, he rested his head up against the wall, trying to choke back the whimpers that were clawing their way up his throat.

Stalking over, he picked up a large wooden chair over his head and flung it at the ground as hard as he could. Watching as the wood splintered all around the ground; Zaheer let out a dark chuckle as he pictured how he looked.

Another heart wrenching wail left his lips as the wind began to spin around him. Zaheer fell to his hands and knees, as another dark laugh slipped through his lips. The wind began to whip around him faster and faster as he kept banging his fist into the metal floor. Soon he had created a tornado around him; all of his rage kept the wind speeds increasing by the second. The winds picked up books, chairs, large pieces of wood, and anything else it could and whipped them across the room. The sounds of books hitting the walls began to sound the loud beat of thunder in the worst of storms. The wind breaking the light caused it to flicker resembling lightning lighting up the blackened sky in the dead of day.

* * *

Korra used all the energy she had left to locate where Zaheer's spirit had been located; it took her a long time. Mostly because he was in the spirit world for a great deal of time, but she did not know this. Once she was able to pin point where he was, a great deal of energy filled her body, as if she gained a part of her soul back. She did not feel a hundred percent better, because it was not a lot but enough to get her to Zaheer and enough for the spirits to stop building. No one would be able to see her unless Korra allowed them to see her, so she kept herself hidden as used the walls of the airship to help her make her way to Zaheer.

Korra needed to let him know how she felt, and even if she didn't make it, he needed to know. She found love where it wasn't supposed to be; she found love right in front of her, right in front of her in the battlefield. Korra could feel her heart beat begin to slow down; her steps became more clumsy as it became a fight to even keep her eyes open. It was so quiet, and her body was beginning to feel so cold. Every breath filled her chest with frost as she made her way to where she felt Zaheer's fire.

She could see P'Li and the others standing by the door where she could feel Zaheer's spirit; his spirit felt more troubled and it felt as if something bad was going to happen. Korra pushed herself towards the door, until she could hear P'Li tell the others to leave, that she was going to handle it. Once the other two had left P'Li made her way to stand in the doorway. Korra made her way next to the door way, out of breath she rested her head against the wall right before the door.

"I guess I still love you, Zaheer." P'Li whispered so quietly that Korra could barely hear her. A small grin appeared on Korra's face as she closed her eyes; _he doesn't love you, he loves me._

Through all of the muffled noises Korra only made out a little bit of what Zaheer was saying, "…I love you too."

Korra's breath got caught in her throat as she heard the words echo in her mind, with teary eyes she let go. Her body fell to the ground as she gave up the fight; just like porcelain, she broke as she hit the ground praying to the spirits that this is just a dream.

* * *

"You really are gone. I never even got to tell you." A loud strangled roar left his mouth as he clenched his fists till his knuckles turned white.

Zaheer was so lost in his mourning he didn't notice anyone else around him. He only wished that he could see that smile one more time; her laughter played like a melody in his mind and another sob left his body.

As if the young woman who he yearned to see was there with him, he whispered four words before he allowed his body to rock with every emotion that was hitting him, "I love you too."


End file.
